Riots have been on - going for days in the tiny Middle Eastern island nation of Bahrain. Police have been spread thorough the capital Manama to confront some violent protesters; though most of the protesters have been peaceful.

The issue at is that the majority Shias are ruled and often discriminated against by the Sunni elite. The Shias are often denied the same benefits as Sunnis and often unfairly accused of disloyalty to the state.

Naturally feed up, they have taken to the streets to demand equality.

We should support the Shias in the Middle East. I say this as a Sunni Muslim. I believe in equal rights for all and Shias in the Middle East have long been and continue to be denied their proper rights and are often stigmatized in some levels of Sunni Muslim discourse.

This has got to stop. Shias are fellow Muslims and Arabs, more importantly, they are our fellow human beings.

Sunnis thorough the Arab world do not like to see the majority Shia in Iraq abuse Sunnis, they should take a lesson from that and behave toward Shias as they would like to be treated if the situation were reversed.

Further, disunity in the Arab and Muslim world only weakens us and strengthens our enemies. At a time when the Palestinians of Gaza are still dying from Israel attacks, all Muslims and all Arabs should be united against the Zionist state and not distracted by petty intra-Muslim quibbles.